Rendezvous With Destiny
by Halo is bae
Summary: (AU World War II fic.) First Lieutenant John Bishop knew that the war was going to be full of casualties hours before the airborne were to jump from the C-47 he was piloting. In a way he was a messenger, deliver the troops behind enemy lines safely. It goes without saying the Germans wouldn't like that and you know the line don't shoot the messenger. Read author note at bottom!


**A/N: Sorry about the weird coding that infected my document. I have no idea how that even happened but I of course fixed everything for you guys. Enjoy and remember to read the bottom Authors note.**

 **Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary force:**

 **You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.**

 **The eyes of the world are upon you.**

 **Good Luck!**

 **And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.**

 **General Dwight D. Eisenhower.**

 **Supreme Allied Commander.**

This note. Written, copied and distributed to every United States trooper that was partaking in Operation Overlord. Many who read this were filled with a sense of confidence from the kind and honorable words from their Supreme Commander. Giving them the hope that they would survive the war and make it back home. This of course being the idea by the General and his council of other high ranking officials, to raise the morale.

Not all felt this way. When receiving the letter and reading it over and over confidence was the last thing they felt. They were easily reminded of how easily they could be killed. Even through the intense training each and all of them were put through, a good chunk weren't fit for fighting. The draft found their way to these people and somehow were not weeded out by their Captains back in basic.

Men started to freak out. The operation was going to start in 12 hours. In 12 hours their lives could be taken from them by the German forces in Normandy. That was definitely something to think about.

The actions of those who feared to fight were easy to spot amongst truly trained American soldiers. Even going at near 60 mph down an air strip could it be seen. A single jeep painted in a deep green with the Army symbol on the hood sped through without so much as a thought of using the brakes.

Sitting in the passenger seat was a man of great stature. It was hard to see due to him being seated in the speeding automobile but he stood at 6 foot 3 inches, very tall for someone to partake in the air force. His olive green B-10 flight jacket, ironed to perfection and buttoned nicely around his toned body. Not to buff but a nice body that had the female air service pilots drooling over him. The suspenders from the A-9 flying trousers were hidden under his jacket made of cotton twill and nylon blends. A pair of goggles, which he never usually wore during flights, sat atop his head rubbing against his brown buzzed hair. This man knew that if he had his goggles on for an excessive amount of time then an unsightly mark would be left on his pale skin, also it magnified his dark green eyes, making them look unsightly big.

"First Lieutenant Sir?"

First Lieutenant John "Spartan" Bishop looked away from the cowering airborne soldiers he was categorizing and looked to the driver of the jeep. "Don't worry about me Keyes the only thing you should be worrying about at the moment is not running over one of our airborne."

Second Lieutenant Jacob Keyes chuckled slightly as he blew a cloud of smoke from his mouth. "Now how could I be your Co-pilot for the operation if I can't even navigate around some brave fools that want to jump out of planes?" he said with the cigarette rolling around his lips.

The Second Lieutenant was wearing the same outfit as John seeing as how it was the comfiest set any pilot could acquire. Just like his superior his brown-red hair was buzzed down.

"That's a good point." John chuckled. "What do you think of the confidence booster we got from Eisenhower?"

"What that piece of crap?" Keyes quickly thrusted his palm forward and let the horn reside loudly, yelling profanity at the airborne squad that decided standing in the middle of the airstrip was a good idea. "If I may speak freely for a second sir, this is war, people will die. Not everyone's going to make it back. To me telling the troops that they'll come home after the war to see their beloved mommy and daddy is what's killing them. A false sense of security."

"It's not like he was deliberately saying they'll come back alive."

"Yea but you know he was implying it."

John took the words in from his Co-pilot. His hand snaked its way down to his right jacket pocket and fished around for the item he was looking for. He felt the slightly bent corner and gently grabbed it. A picture came out and a small smile graced the First Lieutenants lips. A Woman dressed in a nice dress and wearing an apron was holding a small infant in her hand, the small girl no older than 2, wrapped in her favorite blanket asleep. Flipping it over John once again looked at the small note written.

 _'Come back to me safely fly boy. This war has taken enough from me and Jane, we don't want more sadness.'_

"Wife and kid sir?"

John with renounced speed placed the picture back in his pocket. Looking to Keyes he saw the Second Lieutenant looking back and forth from the road and him. John knew that he wasn't one to share anything about his personal life, even the pilots he's flown with knew that. He sighed in annoyance and decided to let it fly this once.

"No. Sister and Niece." The jeep started to come to a halt as the pair of pilots arrived at their respective destination. "The Father was killed in Pearl Harbor when my sister was pregnant."

John refused to say anymore and hopped out of the jeep. The past is in the past and talking about it was something John hated to do. Keyes stunned for a second after hearing that big shocker about the First Lieutenants past had to run from the automobile to keep up with John.

"She's a beauty". John couldn't agree with Keyes more. The C-47 skytrain was truly a sight to behold. "Powered by two 1,200 horsepower Pratt and Whitney radial engines. Wingspan of 96 feet with 64 feet in length, Made from genuine American ingenuity."

The entrance stairs were lowered. Both John and Keyes entered the metal sky beast and looked around the interior. Benches lined the walls for the squad that would be jumping into enemy territory in a few hours. John didn't care much for that and headed for the area that required his and Keyes expertise.

The cockpit, like most planes, was a little small and cramped. John immediately checked the most important part, that being the stick. Being able to steer the plane is a necessity but so is the engines working. He would do a routine check later just in case the engineers missed something.

"Man" Keyes sat in his Co-pilot seat and took in all the buttons, remembering the de-briefing the pilots received yesterday about what needed to be done at the right times. On top of the dash in front of him was the map, Circles marked the areas the paratroopers were supposed to be dropped in. That is if everything went according to plan. But nothing ever goes according to plan in war, he knew that.

"Ever since I heard about the C-47 I've wanted to fly them so badly. Just being inside one is a dream come true."

John stole a glance at his Co-pilot. He seemed to be glowing with excitement. Like a kid that was told he could buy whatever he wanted from the candy store. It was nice to see his no shit taking, hardcore Co-pilot take the time to enjoy things. If it was planes that brought out this side from the Second Lieutenant then that was fine with John.

"Keyes why don't you continue to check on things in here. I'll go check on the engines and the hull."

Keyes smiled and put out the cigarette he was smoking. "You bet Sir. Thanks for entrusting me with this."

John merely nodded. He turned to leave the cockpit and start his routine check. Everything needed to be in top shape for the upcoming invasion. The airborne soldiers he was transporting are counting on him to come through. He refused to let them down, they would all jump from his plane in one piece. It was the least he could do before they began their trek through France.

"Uh Sir!"

John refrained from walking through the door and looked back to his Co-pilot. "I'm deeply sorry about what happened to your sister's husband."

"Yea. So am I." John's nails dug into his palm as they tightened, his teeth gritting.

With that said John left Keyes all to himself in the cockpit. Talking about what transpired in the past always seemed to bring out the bad side in John. The First Lieutenant had a real anger problem to boot, the only things that could calm him down were his sister, his niece and last but not least planes.

There was always something about planes that John found to be very interesting. First off flying is something that not too long ago people believed to be impossible. Now that it's officially possible thanks to the many testers and engineers before him. He was able to find a way to vent his anger.

Walking around the C-47, John deemed the left engine to be fit for duty. The rotors were in top condition and there looked to be no sight of rust or mechanical problems. Now it was onto the other engine.

"Come on hurry up-"

John's ears perked up. A hushed voice seemed to be coming from the other side of the plane. An idea of what might be going on popped into the pilots head. With vigor in his step, John ran around the nose and came to a screeching halt.

"May I help you soldiers with something?"

Three airborne straightened up when they heard the authoritative tone. Turning around quickly and facing John they all saluted and stood at attention. "Lieutenant Sir!"

Standing in a straight line they all showed a stoic face, staring at anything but John. The veteran pilot assessed each soldier standing in front of him. Starting from the left, John stood in front of him, their faces only a few feet from each other. The man was bald, not entirely but the buzz he received made him look like it. His extremely tan skin showed he spent a lot of time in the sun and his electric blue eyes didn't waver in the slightest. Looking at his patches John slightly smirked before making eye contact again. "So Staff Sergeant, care to explain what you three were planning to do to my aircraft?"

Nothing came from the Staff Sergeant. John nodded and moved on down the line. Making eye contact with this man. If you could barely even call him that. He looked no older than 18, not even old enough to buy himself a beer. His shaggy brown hair reached his eyebrows and actually almost covered his brown eyes, which was definitely not regulation. Now looking at the patches of this man a bigger smirk then before covered John's face. Sweat dripped down the pale face of the young Private and John noticed he was slightly shivering. "You're shivering like a baby Private. For all intents and purposes to me you are a baby. Because even a baby can salute his superior officer correctly." The private's eyes widened. "Or is it you're hiding something from me Private." Slowly the Private brought his hands to his sides and the item of interest came into view.

John grabbed the can that was in the hand of the cowering Private. "Thank you Private." Tossing the bottle in the air before catching it, he moved to the last airborne standing. "Do you know what this is Corporal" John shoved the item into the Corporals face. Much like the Staff Sergeant he spoke to his hair was also bald but his eyes were gray with a few pimples and cuts littered his tan skin. This Corporal was not as much older as the Private, maybe 19. The airborne sure is getting the younger ones.

"Sir that would be a can of spray paint." The Corporal answered with moxy.

"Ohhhh" John answered with fake surprise. "Is that so?"

John winded up and launched the can of spray paint a good 50 yards away and watched as it exploded upon impact with the ground. The three airborne soldiers felt fear raise in them, they heard stories about this First Lieutenant. A group of airborne back in basic tried to do the same thing they were doing. Those recruits tried to spray a picture on the C-47 they were about to jump out of before practice, unfortunately, they didn't know who was piloting the flying train. The stories told that the group of 4 recruits were forced to run laps around the air field for 2 days straight, with no food or water. If they stopped at all another day was added to their punishment.

So it was easy to believe why the 3 airborne soldiers right now were basically pissing their suits.

"Trying to deface United States Government property." John whistled to emphasis the point. "That gentleman is sure one hell of a charge, especially during war time." John stopped in front of the Staff Sergeant. Looking into his eyes once more the same steely resolve that was in his eyes earlier was gone. Replaced by a look of fear.

That brought a genuine smile to John's face. Something about scaring the men ranked beneath him brought a sort of comedic effect on him, the only time he ever showed any sort of smile or would _'goof'_ off.

John had his fill of fun for the day. "You three are lucky we are on the brink of the biggest militaristic operation in the history of the United States. Now get out of here before I report you to your CO's."

"Sir!" they saluted once more.

"Beat it." The airborne troopers stopped saluting and speed walked away from the 1st Lieutenant.

John didn't bother watching the men run away. Checking the engine was his top priority, you never know if-.

"Sir!" John merely swiveled his head, annoyed that someone would break his concentration once more. The Private who was supposed to have run away with the other two stood there, once more saluting. John re-focused his vision on the engine.

"I'm deeply sorry for trying to do something unfound to your plane." John's eyebrows raised slightly. "It was idiotic of me and my friends to waste your precious time on scolding us. I'm in your gratitude for not reporting us, if there is anything you ever need to me to do, just ask for it Sir."

This was new. Never before had someone he caught doing something he didn't approve of to his plane apologize. It just goes to show that age sometimes doesn't matter in the world. The youngest of men could hold more wisdom and sincerity then their elders. John's 11 years older than this 18 year old kid, never before had someone younger shown this side. It seems he found a rare one, someone he might actually respect.

"There is something you can do for me Private." John answered as he started to graze his hand around the outer part of the engine. The Private was surprised, the Lieutenant already had something that needed to be done. The young airborne soldier started to ask himself if this was the right thing to do.

"What you can do for me is, come home." A quick burst of wind rolled through the airfield as the airborne soldier looked at his supposedly cold pilot, shock evident on his face. "Come back from this war alive. Get home, kiss your mom, hug your dad and laugh with your siblings if you have any. This war will not be pretty Private. People will die, oh a lot of people will die, there's no way to stop that. This will put your survival skills to the test each moment your life is in danger. You think you can do that for me son?"

The Private was stunned, plain and simple. Was this the same man that was just yelling at him a few seconds ago? The silence was broken as the Private realized the Lieutenant was waiting for an answer. "SIR, YES SIR!"  
John smiled, not letting the Private see of course as his back was still turned to him. "That's what I wanted to hear Private. Now go on." He waved his hand to a random direction. "Go get ready for the jump. I'm only the messenger boy, once you jump from my plane it'll be all you behind enemy lines. With the only man you could trust being the man next to you."

The Private smiled, "You know you're not as bad as the others make you out to be Sir."

"Tell anyone about this and I'll make sure you stay behind and become one of those mean-lean typewrites they got back in Headquarters in New York."

The Private laughed and listened to his superior before running off. John heard the retreating footsteps and finished the routine check. He looked back now, at the figure running to the group of airborne that were getting suited up with their parachutes, face paint camouflage and of course weapons. It was almost time and John knew, he felt something bad was going to happen.

 **(*8*)**

 **June 6th, 1944. D-Day. 02:00.**

The black clouds were definitely a problem. The drop was going to be any minute now, the plan was all about how the landing point would be clear as day, even though the drop was at night. But, no one really expected the black clouds to completely block the visibility of the ground.

First Lieutenant John Bishop continued to fight through the heavy turbulence they were experiencing as his Co-pilot Keyes continued to look over the map they were given and occasionally letting out an annoyed _'fuck'_ as he couldn't figure out _'where the fuck they are.'_

"I'm telling you John I have no fucking clue." John merely shook his head as he continued to concentrate as to not hit the dozens of planes surrounding him. He had no idea what caused him to tell Keyes to call him by his first name during the jump, but he was kind of regretting it at the moment.

"Look Keyes I know this is proving to be difficult but all we have to is make sure we get these guys into Normandy without dying." Just as John said those words the radio came to life, the lead C-47 was reporting a large break in the clouds, also mentioning that land was visible. John smirked.

"It's about fucking time." Keyes complained as he started to lay the map on the dash for more access.

Keyes for the first time in his life wished he could've taken back those words.

John saw the break in the clouds and as soon as he broke into the gap, all hell broke loose. Heavy AA fire pierced the night sky along with spotlights, it looked like the 4th of July back in the City, except these _'fireworks'_ weren't just for show.

The C-47 vibrated several times as the sounds of metal being pierced whisked through the enclosed area. Several screams of airborne soldiers resounded through the holding area and soon enough a scream of _'man down'_ was heard by the two pilots.

"What's going on back there?" John questioned as he continued to maneuver through the flak. Watching out of the corner of his eye as a fellow C-47 took close to two dozen shots in the cockpit area, no doubt killing the pilots. As the C-47 took a quick nosedive downwards heading for the unforgiving ground. John knew those men were screaming for their lives to be sparred, although that plea would go silent.

The sound of frantic movements met his ear before someone answered. "Someone just took one in the knee, he'll be fine but he won't be able to make the jump. You'll have to take him back to England."

John breathed a sigh of relief. "Understood."

John re-focused on the chaos in front of him. His nerves starting to get to him slightly, this was one hell of an adrenaline rush. "Calm down and focus" he said lowly to himself as he tried to block out his freaking out Co-pilot as he was yelling to watch out for everything.

"John turn on the red light!" Keyes shouted, watching another C-47 get ripped apart by flak. This time the plane just exploded in mid-air. Falling to the ground in a flaming ball of metal and bodies.

"What are you talking about we're not at the drop point yet." John had to yell as the noise of the engines being put to some real work made a lot of noise.

"That doesn't matter anymore." Keyes shouted back. "At this rate we'll get to the drop zone in flames, we need to get them out of here now!"

John felt turmoil inside. If he just dropped them off now, then they could get separated from the rest of the platoon. That wasn't part of the plan. Soldiers spread apart could mean bad trouble. But Keyes had a major point, even though he is an ace, John didn't think he could survive in this flak much longer.

More metal being pierced distracted them for a few seconds as the plane a few 100 feet diagonally to the right of them took a whole lot of casings. The Left wing couldn't handle it and completely tore off the rest of the body, falling to the ground. The C-47 started to do barrel rolls as the pilots steering had no control. It started to head in their direction.

 **"WATCH OUT!"** Keyes screamed as John yanked back on the stick sending them up.

 **"HOLY FUCK!"** John screamed out as the friendly plane flew across their dashboard continuing its death roll. The cockpit of the their plane was about 50 feet from the wingless side of the other C-47 as the two planes nearly collided, which would no doubt take out one or two planes behind them in a major crash pile up. The belly of John's C-47 groaned as the top of the wingless plane scratched it slightly before heading for the ground.

Sporadically controlling the stick, John's and Keyes quick short feared breaths filled the cabin as sweat poured from their forehead. "If the side with the wing still attached was swinging our way when it was at our front door, then the cockpit and about half of the loading bay would've been cut in half." Keyes stated as a matter of fact as he took out the canteen he snuck aboard, filled with his favorite Scotch, and took a long enough drink to almost down the whole thing.

"Fuck" John cursed and without saying anything the flipped the switch.

In the loading bay a light next to the jumping door turned red. The highest ranking man who conducted the jumps looked on at the airborne before him. It was time to begin. **"RED LIGHT, STAND UP!"** he yelled over the sounds of the engines.

The now 13 squad of airborne stood from their seats and clipped their harnesses to the line on the ceiling, which would automatically deploy their Chute once out of the plane. **"EQUIPMENT CHECK!"**

The squad of airborne started fiddling with the gear of the people in front of them to make sure their brothers in arms had everything they needed. **"SOUND OFF!"**

 **"13 OKAY!"**

 **"12 OKAY!"**

 **"11 OKAY!"**

 **10 OKAY!"**

 **"9 OKAY!"**

 **"8 OKAY!"**

 **"7 OKAY!"**

 **"6 OKAY!"**

 **"5 OKAY!"**

 **"4 OKAY!"**

 **"3 OKAY!"**

 **"2 OKAY!"**

 **"1 OKAY!"**

Each and every member in line sounded off on their Que. Now that everyone was set, all they had to do was wait for the pilot to give the all go.

John was happy to oblige, the drop zone was almost on them so this would have to do, and he flipped the second switch and the light turned **"GO, GO, GO!"**

The 1st man jumped from the C-47. John watched as the chute deployed and the man was safely heading for enemy territory. Everything was going fine for now and hopefully it stayed that way.

The C-47 rocked badly as a few shots hit the left wing. The sight of orange and black caught John's attention immediately. The engine started to flare as a fire was starting. "Get them out of there now! Tell them to move it!" John yelled to Keyes as the Co-pilot hurried and tried to relay the message to hurry up.

It didn't come fast enough.

The fire spread instantaneously. The left engine imploded and sent a roaring fire that completely covered every inch of the loading bay. Screams of men burning alive was something John and Keyes never wanted to hear. John noticed one or two flaming bodies jumping out of the plane as their skin continued to peel off and die.

"No, no, no, no. Please God not like this" John pleaded as the C-47, without a 2nd engine started to dive-bomb towards a massive forest. John knew it wouldn't work but he tried to pull back on the stick and stay up, he was helping his mind a little, trying to convince himself that the plane would regain altitude and fly.

"Pull up Damnit!" Keyes shouted in desperate attempt as he watched the ground get closer and closer.

John's mind was racing at 100 mph at the moment. Watching the ground get faster and faster by the second, hearing the screams of not only his trusted Co-pilot as well as the still burning airborne soldiers and feeling the burning heat as it tried to burn through the metal door of the cockpit. That being the only reason why John and Keyes weren't joining their comrades in burning alive.

What was he going to do? If he died then he wouldn't keep his promise to his sister, the only one he cared for in this world anymore, besides of course his niece. Would his sister be able to mentally survive losing another piece of family? He remembered how much grief she went through when her husband was killed. The months of crying and him comforting, it took a large toll on her pregnancy so he had to calm her down on a regular basis. For both her and the babies health.

John couldn't die and with every fiber in his being believed he would survive this crash and whatever he had to endure after that. He is in fact a young 29 year old man, he couldn't leave this world yet without going out and making a family of his own as well. There was so much he wanted to do, no way was he going to die in occupied France.

"Sir, if we don't make it, it was an honor serving with you." Keyes spilled out as tears started to form in the corners of his eyes.

"We'll make it Second Lieutenant."

That one stone cold sentence from John had Keyes vision leave the incoming ground and instead look at him. John held a face of determination, something that would not be on the faces of any other pilots that got shot down. It sort of gave him confidence as well, hell, it's not like he was going to have another shot at determination if this didn't work out.

"Yea" Keyes looked back at the flaming loading bay, then casted back to the forest they were going to crash in any second now. "You're right, we'll make it."

John smiled once more as he yanked back the stick so hard that it almost snapped off. The C-47 complied this time. It moved back and as the plane connected with the first few trees the belly of the metal flying beast was what made the first contact. The trees and rough dirt seemed to carry the plane as it started to slide through the forest. Decimating any tree, rock or mound of dirt in its way. The fire from the engine caught on some of the trees and a small forest fire laid in the wake of the destruction.

The plane stopped after about a quarter of a mile. The corpse of the great metal sky train laid there with no movement. The wing that held the burning engine fell off a hundred feet before the rest of the plane stopped and other then that the plane stayed together. It was full of holes and completely un-flyable, basically one of those planes you found in a scrap field.

Although this didn't matter. The Plan to invade occupied France would continue on with or without them in the end.

Their story could end here. As mere casualties in one of the greatest wars in World history. Or maybe it could continue, maybe their lives are worth more. Needed to continue.

It all depends on you…

 **VERY IMPORTANT! READ THE AUTHOR NOTE BELOW THIS!**

 **A/N: Now like I said by breaking the fourth wall. It's all up to the audience on this one. I could stop here and leave them as just two more casualties in this war. OOOOOOrrrrrrrr I could continue on with their story as they try to survive the extreme chaos that as known as D-Day +1 through +4. Its all up to you people. Leave a review to tell me to continue or private message me. whatever you want to do either way I hope to hear your thoughts and criticisms!**


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